Hungry Planet: How Much Food is Eaten Around the World in One Week

30 Families, 24 Countries, 600 Meals – One Extraordinary Book

In Hungry Planet, Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio present a photographic study of families from around the world, revealing what people eat during the course of one week. Each family’s profile includes a detailed description of their weekly food purchases; photographs of the family at home, at market, and in their community; and a portrait of the entire family surrounded by a week’s worth of groceries.

To assemble this remarkable comparison, Menzel and D’Aluisio traveled to twenty-four countries and visited thirty families from Bhutan and Bosnia to Mexico and Mongolia.

Accompanied by an insightful foreword by Marion Nestle, and provocative essays from Alfred W. Crosby, Francine R. Kaufman, Corby Kummer, Charles C. Mann, Michael Pollan, and Carl Safina, the result of this journey is a 30-course documentary feast: captivating, infuriating, and altogether fascinating.

Here is the book description of Menzel’s amazing project:

The age-old practice of sitting down to a family meal is undergoing unprecedented change as rising world affluence and trade, along with the spread of global food conglomerates, transform eating habits worldwide. HUNGRY PLANET profiles 30 families from around the world–including Bosnia, Chad, Egypt, Greenland, Japan, the United States, and France–and offers detailed descriptions of weekly food purchases; photographs of the families at home, at market, and in their communities; and a portrait of each family surrounded by a week’s worth of groceries. Featuring photo-essays on international street food, meat markets, fast food, and cookery, this captivating chronicle offers a riveting look at what the world really eats.

The Melander Family of Bargteheide, Germany

For the Melander family, they spend 375.39 Euros or $500.07 per week for food. This is what they purchase:

The Revis Family of North Carolina, United States

For this family, they spend $341.98 per week on their grocery bill. This is what they purchase:

Meet the Manzo Family of Sicily, Italy

For the Manzo Family, they spend 214.36 Euros or $260.11 per week on food. This is what they purchase:

The Casales Family of Cuernavaca, Mexico

This family spends 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09 per week on their food purchases. This is what they purchase:

Meet the Sobczynscy Family of Konstancin-Jeziorna, Poland

This family spends 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27 for one weeks’ worth of food. This is what they purchase:

The Ahmed Family of Cairo, Egypt

The weekly food expenditure for this family is 387.85 Egyptian pounds or $68.53 and they purchased these items:

The Ayme Family of Tingo, Ecuador

For one week, their food expenditure is $31.55 and for this amount, they purchased these items:

From Shingkey Village, Bhutan is the Namgay Family

For one week’s food expenditure, this family spends 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03. This is what they purchased:

From Breidjing Camp, Chad is the Aboubakar Family

This family has a food expenditure of 635 CFA Francs or $1.25 per week. For this, they purchased: